Ahead of attending and speaking next month at the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2026, consultancy dss+ has previewed to members of the media its most pertinent planned topics of discussion – zero fatalities and climate risk – which both require deliberate efforts from low-level to high-level leadership.

dss+ principal consultant Jacques Botha says despite mining companies having programmes and training on safety in place, fatalities still take place. While there was an 11% year-on-year decrease in mining fatalities in 2025, 39 people still lost their lives.

Many companies still manage climate, technology and safety in silos despite these aspects being interdependent.

The risk of mismanagement in this regard is increasing as African mining operates in an increasingly volatile environment with climate disruption starting to affect water availability, infrastructure and production reliability.

Additionally, Botha says demand for critical minerals is intensifying scrutiny on cost, safety and delivery performance while regulators and financiers are paying closer attention to how risk is understood and managed at asset level.

“The operating environment is not just changing; it is becoming more complex. We are seeing the ‘perfect storm’ where climate disruption, intensifying metal demand and tighter regulation collide,” Botha points out.

The success of managing these risks and market conditions depends on how leadership integrates adaptation and digitalisation to ensure long-term asset viability.

Botha points out that many organisations have already shifted to focus on the human side of safety, thinking beyond compliance and ticking boxes.

“It is about creating a culture within an organisation and increasing psychological safety. While 2025 had an improvement in fatalities, we have seen a spike in events that could have had serious injuries or fatalities. We need to be better at predicting and preventing [incidents],” he explains.

Botha cites Gold Fields as an example of an organisation that has shifted from a culture of compliance to a culture of care, which is an essential model to duplicate across more operations.

FRONTLINE APPROACH

dss+ climate and sustainability principal Dr Gerhard Bolt points out that 2024 was the warmest year on record, with world temperatures having risen by an average 1.5 ^oC compared with preindustrial levels, which already breaches the Paris Agreement target.

In turn, 2025 saw temperatures globally at 1.4 ^oC above preindustrial levels, marking the second-warmest year on record.

“We are seeing real impact on mining operations through climate hazards that are occurring as a result of higher temperatures. For example, severe flooding in Queensland, Australia, where copper value chains were significantly disrupted; and heavy rains in the Zambian Copperbelt, which resulted in a tailings dam failure.”

In acknowledging that climate risk is no longer an abstract sustainability issue but a material business risk that demands structured and data-driven action, dss+ in December released a climate risk framework to help companies navigate adaptation measures and embedding resilience into core business processes.  

Bolt explains that there is not a lack of data to make informed safety and climate adaptation decisions, rather, it is often a case of decision overload and lacking execution.

Global climate models and the use of AI have allowed climate models to be downscaled to square kilometres, which offers certainty about future impacts of precipitation events and temperature. However, this can become daunting and complex for many companies – the biggest struggle is not accessibility of data but translating data into what the impact will be on operations.

Botha emphasises that risk is most prevalent at the frontline of mining operations, therefore, the right culture needs to be created within organisations for people to be able to identify risks and be able to speak up on it, which speaks to psychological safety.

“At leadership level, they often swim blind without the right data to make informed decisions. If we have data coming from the frontline on what is prevalent in the workplace and leaders can verify it in-field, you can add other data points such as safety officer inspections to provide an altogether holistic view of what your risk profile looks like,” Botha explains.

He mentions that leaders often make decisions based on experience and what they feel is happening, instead of practical, on-the-ground information. This is a very technical approach focusing on technology, procedures and standards, which neglects the elements of leadership and culture in organisations.

“The focus is shifting to empowering frontline workers and supervisors. Mining companies have historically not spent enough time and energy to build the right soft skills in frontline leaders,” Botha states.

Bolt and Botha agree that safety is an outcome of a broader cultural evolution and not a standalone goal.